Whether on the water or with rowing machines (ergometers), the sport of rowing is rapidly growing at both the recreational and competitive levels. Today, competitive rowing occurs at the Olympic, elite, collegiate, club, and high school levels.

Virtually all rowing injuries are caused by overuse, and the vast majority of these can be traced to training errors or equipment problems (4,8,10,14,15).

The back is the most frequently injured region of the rower, thought to be due to hyperflexion coupled with excessive rotational forces (15,18). Rib stress fractures in rowers are the injury responsible for the most time lost from on-the-water training and competition (15,20).

Boats have one, two, four, or eight rowers, who may have either one oar (sweep rowing) or two oars (sculling). Each rower sits in a sliding seat and places his or her feet in a pair of fixed shoes. The oar is held in an outrigger that can be adjusted in multiple ways that can vary the height, position, angle, and load per stroke.

The rowing stroke begins at the catch, where the back and legs are maximally flexed and the arms extended. It is at this point where the oar enters the water. During the drive (power) phase of the stroke, the legs are extended, the back opened, and the arms flexed to the chest. At the finish the oar is removed from the water and the blade feathered, or turned parallel to the water. Finally, during the recovery phase, the body returns to the catch position with legs and back flexed and arms extended.

Races are usually run over 1,000- to 2,000-meter courses during the sprint season of spring and summer. These races are contested with boats side-by-side and are run at near maximal aerobic capacity, beginning and ending with an anaerobic sprint. A typical sprint race will last 5-8 minutes. In the fall, head races are normally run over a 3-mile course, where the individual boat races against the clock. These competitions are run at a lower intensity than sprint races, with the competitor staying within aerobic capacity, and generally run 15-20 minutes in duration.

Rowing, acknowledged as one of the most strenuous sports (7), requires high levels of both strength and aerobic capacity. With both a sprint season and a head season, rowers train nearly year-round. A typical yearly training cycle mandates strength and distance training in the fall, weights and machine training in the winter, and anaerobic work in the spring and summer racing seasons.

The successful rower usually has a high aerobic capacity, with elite rowers demonstrating [V with dot above]O_2max levels of 65-70 mL · kg · min⁻¹ (16). The sport favors taller athletes with an extended reach, as they can cover more distance per individual stroke.